Polarization-dependent surface-enhanced Raman scattering from a silver-nanoparticle-decorated single silver nanowire.

Single silver nanowires produced by DC electrodeposition in porous anodic alumina templates were surface-functionalized with the bifunctional molecule 4-aminobenzenthiol (ABT) then exposed to aqueous silver nanoparticles resulting in a silver nanoparticle-decorated silver nanowire. The polarization dependent surface-enhanced Raman (SERS) signal from this system showed significant intensity anisotropy when measured at a midsection of the nanowire, where the largest SERS intensities were observed when the incident light was polarized perpendicular to the nanowire's long axis but was almost isotropic near the tip of the nanowire. The observed effects were accounted for in terms of the electromagnetic fields concentrated in the collection of hot spots created through the ABT-linker-driven nanoparticle-nanowire self-assembly process.